Yes, that’s the exact question I posed to Lil Rounds, the American Idol season 8 finalist who’s been closing her current tour set with a cover of Beyoncé’s iconic “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” Press play below to hear Lil answer (after she stops giggling, of course) and to find out about the perils of belting while dancing, the ease of singing without fear of Simon Cowell, and the joys of shoe-bedazzling. (In other news, you all know this means there will be an Anoop Desai Idolatry interview comin’ atcha in about 24 hours, yes? And also: Follow me on Twitter @EWMichaelSlezak! Fun!)
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Comments (1-30) of 45 Add your comment
lol, I really liked the interview. Lil always seems very bubbly and likeable.
Though I wasn’t able to catch the tour, the clips I’ve seen (thanks youtube!) show a much more confident and self-assured Lil than we got to see on AI. She’s probably the best recent example of how the grind of can wear down even really good talent like Lil’s.
I mean to write:
“She’s probably the best recent example of how the grind of AI can wear down even really good talent like Lil’s.”
AI ground her down??? Gimme a break…they so totally pimped her out when they should have given her the hook long before. And the constant focusing and talking about her kids like that time when they were in the audience and one of them went up and gave Randy a hug and kiss. Good Gawd.
That could have ground her down too. She had no control over that. It probably made her pretty uncomfortable.
Hater!
No I mean all the pressure one must feel about being on AI, always having to do your best, performance anxiety, the exhausting schedule, etc. I don’t mean that the show’s producers intentionally tried to make her less appealing to the audience.
And even if the producers “pimped” her and Danny like everyone keeps saying, they certainly didn’t do any less so for Adam Lambert.
Pam – au contraire…she’s actually a LOVER of music.
U R FINE BABY IT’S LAMAR IN ROME,GA
i got to see the show and EVERYONE was pretty “ok”? lil was VERY self-assured at the show and “single ladies” helped people pay attention to her. not to squash her hopes, but it was FAR AND AWAY the adam lambert show. wow!!! if this kid doesn’t make it, i don’t know who will. what an entertainer!
Lil did great job singing at the concert, but… Well, to be honest, I don’t think dancing (at least the Single Ladies kind of dancing) is her “thang.” I know the choreographer wanted her to do the same/similar moves as he taught Beyonce – but I think all it did is cheapen her performance. I would have liked it much better for her to perform as herself, and the choreography should be simple and cater to Lil’s style/vibe. You know what I mean? My favorite part of her set is when she sang Mary J. Blige song, she got to perform as herself and it was her best song style. Anyway, Lil’s so cute with all her bubbliness in this video.
Nice interview. Lil has come a long way. She doesn’t sound so countrified like she used to. Keep up the good work, Lil.
“countrified?” — no idea what you’re talking about…she only did country music once that I can recall
Huh?
Are you from a small town or something? You don’t know what kahuna meant when he said she sounded countrified? It has nothing to do with country music.
I liked this interview with LIl. She was really bubbly and seemed happy. I’m glad that she doesn’t read to much online stuff and it’s allowed her to retain a bit of her spirit and verve. Hope something good works out for her. She seems like a really great and fun person : )
That’s great that you think she’s bubbly, happy, great and fun — nevermind the fact that she can’t sing to save her soul.
You know Lil was totally great on tour. She was totally different than on the show. I really enjoyed Lil. I am Kris fan, but Lil really tore it up during the concert. Great job Lil!
Lil Rounds, throughout last season of Idol, was highly overrated. To my mind – AND EARS – she should have been turfed and not made it into the top 10. I guess all those clips of her and her 3 kids, and all the single mom talk, really helped her to get voted in, week after week — because it sure as heck was NOT her singing.
I agree she was highly overrated, but she wasn’t a single mom – she was married. Just FYI.
I guess I should say she IS married, not she was married.
I remember seeing a guy in some of those clips but I don’t recall that they said he was her husband.
Yep, she’s married. I believe it was her audition where she said that Rounds is her married name– when they talked about what a cool name Lil Rounds is.
Another great interview Michael. I wish that Lil had felt this comfortable and confident on the show. This season would have been incredible if Lil, Anoop and Matt had just been able to not let the show get to them. I’m not saying that any of them would have won, it’s just that having those three on their game would have confirmed how talented this group is.
And what a shock that a Glambot would try to hijack another thread. Get a life people.
Now that she’s been elevated to star status after the AI pimping last season, has she dumped her hubby yet?
That is one bad weave. She can sing though.
ah…NOT!!!!
She seems like a nice person, but her set felt the longest during the concert (other than Gokey). It draaagggeed on. She shouldn’t try to cover great current artists that everyone is familiar with if she can’t live up to them. Sorry Lil!
Well it’s pretty clear she can’t live up to them, as was evident last season when she showed up week after week trying to be someone else – recall the Tina Turner fiasco. You’d think she would have learnt some lessons by now.
Lil is a really nice person, but she’s not a great singer. I think she alone with several others on the tour, should just enjoy this experience and prepare for a new career after the tour is over. It’s obvious that the musical business is tough to break into, and you need a lot of talent and something that distinguish you from others, and unfortunately for Lil she’s missing both. I wish her well!
Personality = 10
Looks = 8
Dancing = 7
Singing = 5 (at best)
Total = OVERRATED
You forgot: Fashion Sense = 0
yes, I shudder when I remember the pink top with the flower on the shoulder and those white 90’s-looking pants — anyone with a humongous keyster like that should stay away from skin-tight white pants!
Don’t you wonder where all her self confidence is coming from? Who does she think she is, Beyonce? Tina Turner? Please! She’s a copy cat at best.
…what are you talking about? Does she think that she is Beyonce or Tina Turner because she sang their songs? All the contestants sang other people’s songs!
Did Adam Lambert think that he was Freddie Mercury, David Bowie or Robert Plant? Did Allison think that she was Janis Joplin?
The contestants you mention brought their own style into other artists songs – they made it theirs. I repeat – Lil is a copy cat and VERY LUCKY to have made it this far. Everyone knows there were far more talented people than her who should have had her spot. She is a LUCKY copy cat, nothing more.
I thought Lil did a great job at the Atlanta show – I was pleasantly surprised. Listening to her being interviewed, however, just doesn’t cut it for me. There is not enough original material there to make me think this woman can make it on her own. Outside of the Idol world, I can really only see her doing mediocre nightclub acts. Simon was right. She has not grown at all in the last few months. Matt, Kris, Allison, and Anoop have. And Adam, well, he defines the word “original” in everything he touches.
hmmm, you have to have been at the tour concert to get the real deal with Lil. She really does tear it up with her vocals. The best songs for me was when she did the Mary J medley…thats her zone right there. Not the pop stuff that beyonce does. I liked Lil when she had her pixie hair cut, she seemed different.
Anyhoo, like i said she has a great voice on tour but almost like everyone else says…she’s missing that “it” factor. Can’t put my finger on it…maybe she’s just not distinct enough?
let me add though that she defintely brings A LOT of energy with her “single ladies” song. she’s very energetic and does get the crowd going =)
I’ll have to take a look at some of Lil’s performance videos. She seems much younger in this interview than she did on Idol (that’s a good thing).
I think it’s her hair; she does look younger. Of course, I’m naive. I think Hollywood people look better suddenly because hair or wardrobe, and find out later they had plastic surgery. A new hair style can only go so far to improving looks. But I think she looked better in the interview. I never liked her on AI; not a good enough voice and she seemed to have an attitude when being given criticism.
Lil showed a much bigger and better voice on tour and more fun But that is all…just better. Not wow or terrific or even interesting…just better.
I’m very proud of Lil for persevering through all of the hateful comments spewed by talent-less couch potatoes. Lil is a strong, beautiful, shapely, real-as-it-gets woman, wife and mother. She started out being herself and then got sidetracked listening to the wrong voices, but Lil found her way back by the Finale. Her duet with Queen Latifah set that place on fire and is a better indication of her career possibilities than the Idol tour. You go, girl!
her duet with Queen L. totally sucked
Dear Jersey: Don’t know what finale you were watching but that thing with the Queen was gawd awful. If I never hear anything more about Big Rounds, it’ll be too soon. The only one I can’t stand more than her is that horrible Corkrey woman.
Ultimately, the voters did the right thing and gave her the boot, albeit a few weeks too late. If she had been the last female standing instead of Allison, I would’ve lost all faith in humanity.
I enjoyed her set way more than I enjoyed what she did on the show. She wasn’t attempting to channel Whitney Houston. I thought she sounded good.